How are you feeling about making your role as well as your company debut?
The thing I’m enjoying most is finally being given the opportunity to sing music that I have studied and practiced in obscurity. Rigoletto is the opera I have performed most often in my career because of my work as Monterone, but I am enjoying finally being able to sing the role my voice is made for.
How did your musical journey begin?
I actually started my musical journey as a percussionist. I played percussion from the age of nine all the way through college. In high school, I had the opportunity to start singing in choirs and realised very quickly that my voice was unique, even at that young age. So, I began exploring it further.
As a Christian man, I also felt that the Lord was opening doors for me in this field. I received full-tuition scholarships to top schools for both my undergraduate and master’s programs and later went on to win major international competitions.
Talk us through your opera career to date
I started my opera career at Houston Grand Opera in the United States, where I completed a two-year young artist program. From there, I transitioned to Germany, where I spent a year as a member of the permanent ensemble at Staatsoper Hamburg. During that year, I also worked at Bayerische Staatsoper.
Now, at my relatively young age in this business, I have been blessed to sing at many prominent opera houses around the world, including English National Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, to name just a few. I have also been able to sing alongside some of the world’s most prominent voices, including Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Angel Blue, Lisette Oropesa and Ludovic Tézier.
Jasmine Habersham as Gilda in 2022. Photography by Clive Barda
Why do you think everyone should see Rigoletto?
It’s an opera that speaks directly to our humanity. It is a story we can relate to, and musically, there truly isn’t a dull moment.
What’s special about this particular production?
I believe it’s important for audiences to see people of colour in leading roles in opera beyond those specifically written for Black performers, such as the ones in Porgy and Bess. This representation matters for opera audiences because it is still rarely seen, and these opportunities are rarely given. I believe it is important for the opera world to embrace these masterpieces with performers from different racial and cultural backgrounds.
What message would you love audiences to take away with them?
I would love for people to take away from this opera is to be bold and courageous. If you have a gift, which we all do, be bold and use that gift to serve other people.
Rigoletto opens at 2pm on Sunday 18 October. After its run in Leeds, the opera tours to Newcastle, Salford and Nottingham.
